When you鈥檙e traveling, you can be whoever you want. You can recreate yourself in the image of people you admire鈥攚e are, after all, a collection of the people we most admire鈥攁nd borrow a little of their confidence, a little of their perspective or guts. Anyway, this is a lofty way to think about travel clothes, but聽it鈥檚 how I鈥檝e always thought about travel clothes. I love packing. I love putting things in pouches. I love those mesh packing cubes that stack in your carry-on. I love feeling like my life makes sense, and everything is neat and aspirational, and I can pull something from the top of my backpack and look like my best self when I鈥檓 on the road, the person I鈥檇 look like if I put this much intention into my everyday style, which I don鈥檛 (yet), although someday I鈥檇 like to. The point is that by exploring places, we鈥檙e exploring who we want to be, and聽because this is a clothing review, here are some really excellent outdoor and/or travel clothing options that also fit nicely into a single bag, plus who I feel like when I wear them.
Fj盲llr盲ven Abisko Stretch Shorts ($90, available in waist sizes from 26 to 37 inches)
These shorts are as comfortable as sweats, made with dense, thin, stretchy fabric (88 percent polyamide and 12 percent聽elastane) that feels almost like a warm-weather soft shell. They鈥檙e both breezy and substantial, so they鈥檒l keep you cool but won鈥檛 tear when you scoot over boulders. They make me feel like a biologist about to discover a new species of frog before drinking pisco sours around a campfire with my diligent and enthusiastic graduate students.
Prana Hybridizer Pant ($45, sizes XS to XL)聽
I don鈥檛 wear business clothes much, because I鈥檓 a self-employed dogsledder, but if you want to look like a self-employed dogsledder pretending to be a businessperson, then . That is to say:聽they look sharp and tailored while also being, for all practical purposes, athletic pants. I give them extra points for the wide, flat waistband. These pants make me feel like a CEO on my way to yoga class, who might also summit a fourteener聽after work on Friday if my ladies鈥 night gets postponed.
Cotopaxi Palmas Active Jacket ($100, sizes XS to XL)
The first windbreakers I ever wore were clammy and noisy, so I鈥檝e avoided them ever since, opting to carry a lightweight button-up shirt for times when I want to cover my arms. But packs up smaller than a shirt, and the water-resistant recycled poly feels like butterfly wings, making it comfy even over a tank top. Plus the color-block design makes me feel like I belong in a vintage ski poster, one that looks like it was plucked聽from the stands at a late-April ski-ballet exhibition.
Icebreaker Away Long Sleeve Zip Hood Showers Top ($114, sizes XS to XL)
Icebreaker makes my favorite base layers, and 聽follows the same pattern, with soft merino wool, generously long sleeves, and a fitted-but-not-tight cut. Unlike base layers, however, it goes as well with a dress as with Carhartt pants, which means it really could be your wear-it-all-summer day-or-night piece. It reminds me of the hippie camp counselor I idolized as a tween, who wore short shorts and floor-length skirts and went everywhere barefoot and made every single kid feel valued. I like to wear shoes, but I also like to make people feel valued, you know?
Chaco Wayfarer Sandals聽($103, sizes 5 to 12)
One time I set off to hike from Washington State to California, ditched my hiking boots on day three, and walked the remaining 360 miles in secondhand Chacos, which were聽infinitely better for my feet. have the same support and fit as the classics, but the leather straps and soles make them more pulled-together for nonhiking use. Wearing these makes me feel like myself: the same woman who walked across Oregon at 22聽but now a little older and more purposeful. Which is kind of what I鈥檝e been going for the whole time.